Stevens recently host two separate delegations from Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), which visited the university to discuss potential formal institutional partnership opportunities.

On May 15, Stevens President Nariman Farvardin and Stevens Provost George Korfiatis welcomed to campus BIT Vice President Yang Shukang and his delegation.

On May 18, Korfiatis, Stevens Vice Provost Ralph Giffin, and Stevens Deans Michael Bruno, Gregory Prastacos, Dinesh Verma and Lisa Dolling met with the academic leadership from BIT, including 22 of its deans and support staff.

BIT has been a top tier research university in China for more than 50 years, focusing on multidisciplinary technology education and research, with a particular strength in engineering. With 17 academic colleges and 43 research centers, it serves more than 26,000 students annually.

Over the past ten years, Stevens and BIT have partnered in graduate education, with Stevens faculty delivering graduate programs in Telecommunications Management and Physics to BIT students in China. The two institutions have also engaged in an undergraduate “2+2” program, with 17 BIT students currently completing two years of undergraduate studies at Stevens.

The universities are now exploring an institution-to-institution partnership which could result in much broader opportunities, such as a student exchange program, faculty research collaborations, joint education offerings, culture experiences, and more. During this week’s meeting, leaders from each university shared overviews of their institution’s history, current programs and future goals. Each of the Stevens deans then facilitated break-out meetings between some of their school’s program directors, researchers and other faculty members, along with counterparts at BIT.

“As we implement our 10-year strategic plan and take stock at some of the goals we have set for ourselves, there is potential value in a formal collaboration with BIT,” said Giffin. “As an example, Stevens’ commitment to ensuring our undergraduate students are globally aware, and have an international experience during their time at Stevens, could be furthered via a formal student exchange program with BIT. At the graduate level, a formal partnership could help us recruit top-notch BIT graduates for masters and Ph.D. study at Stevens, helping Stevens to become more selective in China as we diversify our graduate populations with students from other regions of the world.”